this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2026
316 points (99.4% liked)
Technology
85745 readers
3995 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I hope to be on that path. I’m in my 40s and tired of the grind. Nowhere close to retirement yet, but I am likely on track to pay off my house early in the next two years (maybe 7 years into a 30 year mortgage) which will go a long way.
I’m saving as much as I can and hoping I can retire lean in my mid or late 50s.
Right now though all I can think of is that I need a sabbatical after my current job ends (either layoffs or just quitting) because I really need a break.
Best of luck to you. I'm in a similar boat, but thankful I have a good job I don't dread that makes an effort to take good care of me. I'm on track to retire in my 50's, but if my investments do better than expected and I hit my number earlier, I'm out.
But I've also never understood why anyone works longer than they need to if they have the means to live comfortably in the first place.
In the USA one of the best reasons to keep working is the healthcare gap before Medicare kicks in.
Also, when you're approaching "early retirement age" you're likely at the peak of your earning potential. Working 1 more year could be equal to 3x or 4x a single year of retirement spending.
Another thing happens when you're still working but you don't absolutely need to. You recognize working is optional and you can take the risk and push back on work you don't like. It gives you the power to take the risk. If you get fired, you're already set up to continue life without working. This makes the work itself usually much more pleasant/tolerant so there's a lower desire to quit early.
Institutionalization.
It's like that one movie...pretty sure its Shawshank Redemption? There's that one guy that gets out of jail and then commits suicide in a few months or so, because he can't handle the real world after spending most of their life in jail.
I think work operates in a similar way...but the cruelty of the trap is that the things that make life worth living, i.e. hobbies, friends, a life outside of work, etc. kind of interferes with your ability to get that high level income you need for early retirement.
I think a lot of people that work even though they have the means to live comfortably for the rest of their lives are there because...work is their entire life. They have nothing outside of it. No purpose.
We talk about retirement as a question of resources: do we have the financial resources to live x years? What we don't talk about is every other resource. Social, emotional, physical (in the does your body work sense) etc. Sure, you've got the house and the money...but your friends are all at work, and making new ones is pretty hard...even if you manage to make bank and retire in your mid 30s.
Bingo. It's been very interesting watching family members retire. You can get very good at seeing which ones will thrive and which won't. Some don't even really retire- they keep getting part time jobs, etc. because they never developed the hobbies that they could now lean into.